EDITORIAL/Sandy lake money

The circus show that has become Sulphur Springs Park was in full swing Tuesday during a meeting of county supervisors with County Engineer Rudy Warnock once again the ringmaster.

Since Day 1, we've called this park either a result of incompetence, corruption, negligence, or, all three. As the spin machine continues to churn out contradicting facts, it's hard to figure out which one or combination of adjectives best describes the park.

Warnock brought in geotechnical engineering firm Burns, Cooley, Dennis in Tuesday for a presentation and discussion of soil borings. He once again passed out board minutes and continues to keep a separate media folder so there's no "confusion."

Warnock says sandy material was found in only one boring in the lakebed and it would take a day to fill, adding that reports about an abundance of sand were false.

"That's why we drew the lake and felt comfortable," he boasted.

Immediately following his short presentation, W. David Dennis discussed the soil testings. He was later grilled by Supervisor Gerald Steen over a private conversation the two had referring to the park.

Dennis later said, "There are areas I think we do need to investigate. Rudy had not developed how big this lake was gonna be (when we first did soil studies). There's some additional investigation I've recommended to Rudy."

Initial soil testings done on a dam first. Understandable. There were two borings side-by-side that revealed a good bit of sand. Next step is lakebed. OK. Examine lakebed even though not sure where it will be since it isn't drawn out. OK. Do only eight borings in the 16 acre lakebed and hope that in between there aren't huge pockets of sand.

Warnock says the amount of dirt is not 400,000-500,000 cubic yards, but more like 130,000. He says 75 percent of the dirt is good clay, while only 25 percent that has been dug is sand.

The spin machine is going so fast we can't keep everything right.

Board Attorney Mike Espy and Road Manager Lawrence Morris brought up the weight of the excess dirt and how it was useless to the road department because it was sugar sand. A visit to the site and one will see mounds of sand on top of some darkened clay.

One thing is for certain: This boondoggle lake had absolutely no oversight whatsoever and that's not how taxpayer monies should be expended.